Back in October, I spent a few very enjoyable days in Leicester. Now I will return to the uni for the PhD Research Week in June. And to top it all I will be able to talk about my thesis in front of a few other students.

Last week I was a bit terrified about this prospect, but yesterday my regular supervision was super-cool again so I am now feeling more confident and able. I now have an almost completed “position paper” which lays out the groundwork for the thesis. We now have a schedule in place until June, 2015.

The journey just begins and this journey will take me back to 1906 when Carl Benz, who arguably created the first commercially sucessful internal combustion engined automobile sent his first experimental vehicle, the so-called Patent Motorwagen (Patented Automobile) to the Deutsches Museum. The vehicle was just 20-year-old then. Nobody knew that the automobile will change transportation, society, landscape – everything. In that fateful moment Museum and New Form of Transportation met. There were many questions which had to be answered: how to present this object? Should we present this object now or later? Do we have enough space to present this object? I will talk about this and more in June.

Besides, I am very much looking forward to spend some time at the uni library. I just love libraries. And archives. I love researching, discovering new facts, tidbits about motoring history – and now motoring in a museology context.

And last, but not least, I am looking forward to meeting my fellow students. Last October, we had a wonderful night at a pub with good food, drinks and chat. Sitting alone in an office in Szekesfehervar, typing this, and remembering last October it seems a bit surreal – but exciting.

About Pal

I am a 40-year-old automotive industry analyst and motoring historian. I have written a few books, dozens of articles and I am maintaining two websites at the moment. I have been a lecturer at a Hungarian university for three years now - my topic is international and Hungarian motoring history. Now my next challenge is in front of you - a PhD on motoring museums. Let the journey begin.